Angular Velocity/Momentum on MCAT?

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ManlyMan246

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I was surprised to see that my Kaplan prep book does not cover this material. Does the MCAT itself test these concepts?

Thanks in advance =]

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Princeton goes over angular velocity and momentum but from my understanding its important to have a qualitative understanding. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this.
 
a bit. I didn't pay as much attention to this section as others though b/c I looked for it in the mcat topics list and its not there (unless I'm mistaken). For things not there I don't spend nearly as much time on
 
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Angular velocity is not directly tested on the MCAT. Some prep companies include a brief discussion of it for "background information." However, I believe momentum can be tested on the MCAT.
 
Momentum, almost guaranteed to be there in one form or another. Angular/oscillating motion is tested conceptually for the most part and is not as major a part. If you're shooting for a high score, though, definitely know it.
 
Momentum, almost guaranteed to be there in one form or another. Angular/oscillating motion is tested conceptually for the most part and is not as major a part. If you're shooting for a high score, though, definitely know it.

Hi,

I can see whole passages on linear momentum due to collison type questions but angular momentum? Really? You've seen these on the AAMCs? I haven't got there yet and TPR mentioned it only over a page or so. I am indeed shooting high (so that when I fall its not into the single digits!...overall score that is...) so wondering if i need to look into this elsewhere. All i know is angular momentum is lmv or Iw. Not much else.........should i be looking to get into this deeper?

thanks
steve
 
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant MOMENTUM in general, m1v1=m2v2 kind of questions, will definitely be on the MCAT. Angular momentum, definitely not so much. As for oscillating/angular motion, I mean spring problems + pendulum problems that follow sinusoidal motion/forces.
 
Momentum yes you should know!! Especially conservation of momentum in elastic and inelastic collisions. Impulse questions (change in momentum) show up here and there. I had a question on angular momentum on my May 2 MCAT. You should know all about springs, pendulum motion, but that stuffs pretty easy to get!
 
thanks for the replies. I definitely feel good about my linear momentum skills so I'll just make sure to read over angular momentum again. I did a ton of TPR practice problems and not once did angular momentum come up so I'll look elsewhere for it.

cheers
steve
 
My TPR books said there wouldn't be, but I had a stand-alone on the real thing. I'm assuming it's really rare.
 
My TPR books said there wouldn't be, but I had a stand-alone on the real thing. I'm assuming it's really rare.

and is that what the star means on the table of contents? that anything "Starred" is not tested? I bought my hyperlearning books off someone else and I don't know what this star means. But its there for angular momentum


thanks
 
My Examkrackers book specifically said angular momentum wasn't tested (and apparently so do several other prep books), so I purposefully skipped it when studying. You have no idea how furious I was when there was AN ENTIRE PASSAGE based on angular momentum to kick off my MCAT. Five questions down the drain right off the bat. Unbelievable. 👎

In my head during the first two minutes of the MCAT: "Angular momentum 😱?!? How in the heck do I do this 😕? Wait, EK told me this wasn't on here 😡!!! I'm f-ed 🙁." And then I fell down the slippery slope to "I'm never getting into med school :scared:."



The rest of it wasn't bad though, so I think I still did OK. Later when I got home, promptly dealt with my Examkrackers book:diebanana:. Results will be out September 15th... and I know what you're thinking, but no, there has never been a more appropriate string of emoticons.
 
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Took MCAT in 2006, TPR books had 1 page on the topic and basically said don't worry about seeing it...

Then I got an entire passage about a spinning spaceship and torques and most answers needed to be answered in rads which I didn't even look at while prepping. Luckily there were only 4 questions or so on the passage.

Then for my retake in 2008, princeton included several more pages on the topic and explained it much better and of course then I saw none of it on my MCAT.

I imagine it is a rarer topic and should be explained mostly in a passage.
Just know how to solve for a circumference and that a circle is = to 2(pi)rads
and one rad = 57.3 degrees or so... Angular momentum is quite similar to translational momentum so you should be able to figure it out.
 
It's definitely tested. I had an entire passage on angular velocity / momentum on a real test.
 
When asked upon that question all you have to say is you learned angular momentum by watching the winter olympics.

When that female figure skater extends her arms, she spins slowly, and when she closes her arms, she spins really fast. That is conservation of angular momentum. The MCAT graders will be impressed.
 
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